E pluribus unum. Out of many, one. As we approach our nation's 250th anniversary, the words seem less like a motto and more like a prayer—or maybe a question mark.

Every year, the Super Bowl reminds us what we still have in common. Our national pastime, not just the game itself, has become a ritual and a reason for friends and family to gather. We come together whether our teams are playing or not, whether we care about football or just the halftime show and commercials. For a few hours each February, we're simply Americans, sharing the same experience, the same screen, the same moment.

But maybe not this year.

Super Bowl halftime shows have often had controversial moments (Janet Jackson's infamous wardrobe malfunction in 2004) and divisive ones (Eminem taking a knee in 2022). This year's selection of Bad Bunny has ignited a different kind of firestorm, one that reveals the deeper fractures threatening to split our national narrative.

Who is Bad Bunny? If you have to ask, you're probably on one side of a growing divide. He's a Puerto Rican, “Latin trap” and reggaetón artist who has won multiple Grammy Awards, including Best Album and two others this year, and has become one of the most-streamed musicians in the world.

President Trump's response to the announcement of Bad Bunny’s selection was not surprising: "I never heard of him. I don't know who he is. I don't know why they're doing it, it's crazy." Later, he added: "I'm anti-them (referring to Bad Bunny and Green Day). I think it's a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible."

When he accepted a Grammy this past weekend, Bad Bunny made headlines not just for his music but for his politics: "Before I say thanks to God, I'm gonna say: ICE out. We're not savage, we're not animals, we're not aliens, we are humans, and we are Americans," he declared. "The hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love."

In response, Turning Point USA announced an alternative "All American Halftime Show" featuring Kid Rock, a longtime Trump supporter, along with country artists Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, and Gabby Barrett. Promoted as a celebration of "faith, family, and freedom," it will livestream during the official halftime show.

Here's what troubles me: Unlike the game itself, which you can watch together even if you support opposing teams, you'll now have to choose which halftime show to watch. One more opportunity to pit family and friends against each other. One more moment where we don't share the same screen, the same experience, the same America.

Shared experiences form a shared narrative. For 250 years now, the American story has grown as immigrant stories have been woven into it, family by family. New chapters of that story are written every day, as I was reminded of this past year at a naturalization ceremony we attended.

The irony cuts deep. The day after the Grammys, I talked with people at my local dry cleaner about Bad Bunny's performance. Many of them were Latino, and they were overjoyed … and proud. These are the same communities that recent polling shows have soured dramatically on the current administration. A November 2025 Pew Research Center report found 70% of Latinos disapprove of the President's job performance. A January 2026 Politico report put his favorability among Hispanics at just 28%—a 13-point drop from early 2025, and a precipitous fall from the 43-49% support he enjoyed during the 2024 election.

Hispanics were a key swing vote that helped deliver the White House in 2024. These same voters may well flip the House this fall. If that happens, the President's final years will be consumed responding to oversight and subpoenas rather than governing.

I know something about working through divided times. Twenty-five years ago, I served as Staff Director of the Senate Republican Conference on Capitol Hill during another controversial presidency. George W. Bush narrowly lost the popular vote to Al Gore by some 500,000 votes but won the electoral college after the Supreme Court intervened to stop the Florida recount—the first inversion of the electoral and popular vote since 1888. Hanging chads. Brooks Brothers riot. Bush v. Gore. The nation was as divided as I had seen it in my short time on the Hill.

Bush's response was "Compassionate Conservatism"—a philosophy that believed in conservative principles but insisted they be applied with a heart for the vulnerable. It led to historic investments in fighting global AIDS, expanding education opportunities, and reforming immigration. Not everyone agreed with every policy, but there was an attempt to govern for all Americans, not just the base.

Then came September 11, 2001.

I recently revisited Ground Zero and recalled my visit there just months after the attacks, walking between the pews at St. Paul’s Chapel a few blocks away. Walking on sacred ground. That moment brought America together in ways we haven't seen since. Political differences didn't disappear, but they were subsumed into something larger: a shared grief, a shared resolve, a shared identity. And a shared prayer.

Four months after 9/11, Super Bowl XXXVI delivered a halftime show that captured that spirit. U2 performed as the names of those lost on September 11th scrolled on a massive screen behind them. Bono opened by reciting Psalm 51:15: "Oh Lord, open my lips, that my mouth might show forth thy praise." Then he added, "Yes, America," before launching into "Beautiful Day."

Bono famously describes America not merely as a country, but as "one of the greatest ideas human beings have ever had." When Bono accepted the Fulbright Prize for International Understanding in 2022, he said, "[t]he song isn’t the same one that we thought we knew. Turns out the song is still to be written. The American song. It might be, America might be, the greatest song the world has never heard—yet.”

A song yet to be written. A song we write together.

*Bono Performing at the Superbowl Halftime Show, 2002. Watch the full performance* *here*.

As a Christian, I believe that our unity doesn't require uniformity. The body of Christ has many members with different gifts, and all are necessary. As an Anglican, I'm part of a tradition that has always sought the via media, the middle way, between extremes. As a conservative, I believe in preserving what's best about our inheritance while remaining open to the full flourishing of all our citizens. As an American, I believe that our diversity is not a weakness to be overcome but a strength to be celebrated within a shared framework of constitutional self-government and mutual respect.

Bad Bunny may not be to everyone's taste—and I’m not sure yet that he's mine. But millions of Americans, including the 3.2 million American citizens of Puerto Rico, consider him their voice. (Contrary to popular belief, Puerto Ricans are American citizens!) Dismissing him outright, or creating a counter-programming event designed to say "this halftime show isn't for you," sends a message we cannot afford to send: that some Americans count and others don't.

Conservatism should be about conserving what's best in our tradition—including the tradition of welcoming the stranger, of seeing the image of God in every person, of building a nation capacious enough for all who pledge allegiance to its ideals. We lose nothing by watching together, by listening to voices different from our own, by sharing the same moment even if we don't share the same musical taste.

This Super Bowl Sunday, I hope you'll watch the game. I hope you'll watch the halftime show, whatever you think of the artist, and take part in a shared experience with Americans who may be different from you. And if you really want to watch the Turning Point alternative, I am sure it will be available later on Youtube.

And maybe, you might consider pulling up that 2002 U2 performance on YouTube—and watch it with your family, and with your friends across the political spectrum.

Remember when we sang together.

Remember that America is still a song yet to be written, and we all hold the pen. Maybe, just maybe, we can find our way back to “e pluribus unum” with an exclamation mark, not a question mark. Out of many, one! Not one in our politics; we'll always disagree about policy. But one in our commitment to each other, one in our identity as Americans, one in believing that we're stronger together than divided.

That's the conservatism worth conserving. That's the compassion our conservatism desperately needs.

And that's a song worth singing, together.

It's a beautiful day

Sky falls, you feel like

It's a beautiful day

Don't let it get away

– U2

Between a Rock and a Bad Bunny

Creative Capital at Work